DID Press: UN has warned that the world has moved beyond “stress” and “crisis” into a persistent state of “water bankruptcy,” with chronic over-extraction and pollution driving global freshwater systems past recovery thresholds.
Experts said around four billion people face severe water scarcity for at least one month each year, while roughly 70% of major aquifers are in long-term decline. The report adds that 2.2 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water and 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation services, underscoring a structural, post-crisis condition rather than a temporary shock.
Kaveh Madani, head of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, said many regions are living beyond their hydrological means and that critical water systems are effectively “bankrupt,” calling the situation systemic and enduring.
The findings point to acute hotspots across West Asia and North Africa, South Asia, and the southwestern United States. In the latter, the Colorado River basin has become emblematic of decades of over-allocation, with withdrawals exceeding natural replenishment.
Agriculture—responsible for about 70% of global freshwater use—sits at the centre of the challenge, with more than 170 million hectares of irrigated land under severe water stress. The report urges a shift to “bankruptcy management”: preventing irreversible losses, reforming high-consumption sectors, ensuring fair allocation, and integrating water policy with food security, climate resilience and peacebuilding.